Chaohu Lake Guide: Lakeside Walks and Island Temples near Hefei
Anhui is better known for Huangshan and the ancient villages of the south, so most foreign travelers never hear of its largest lake. Chaohu (巢湖), a broad freshwater lake an…
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Xiangtangshan Grottoes Guide: Northern Qi Buddhist Carvings near Handan
The great cave-temples of China — Yungang, Longmen, Dunhuang — draw the crowds and the guidebook praise. But there is a smaller, quieter cluster in southern Hebei that art historians…
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Guan’e Valley Guide: Waterfalls and Gorges of Longnan, Gansu
When people talk about Gansu, they usually mean the Hexi Corridor — the desert road to Dunhuang. But the far south of the province, in Longnan, holds a different landscape…
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Jinsha Site Museum Guide: Ancient Shu Gold and the Sun Bird of Chengdu
Most visitors to Chengdu know the pandas and the spicy food. Far fewer know that, less than twenty years ago, construction workers digging foundations here uncovered a Bronze Age city…
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Tiantai Mountain Guide: Birthplace of Tiantai Buddhism in Zhejiang
Most foreign visitors to Zhejiang head straight for the West Lake in Hangzhou and never learn that the province holds one of the most important Buddhist sites in East Asia….
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Mount Heng (Nanyue) Guide: Sacred Peak and Temple Complex in Hunan
Mount Heng, known as Nanyue or the Southern Sacred Mountain, is the southernmost of China’s five sacred peaks and the most devoted to living worship. It rises in the Nanyue…
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Jigong Mountain Guide: Cool Summer Villas and Sea of Clouds in Xinyang
Jigong Mountain, or Jigong Shan, is the old foreign summer resort that time forgot. Straddling the Henan-Hubei border above the city of Xinyang, it was built a century ago by…
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Dinghu Mountain Guide: Primeval Forest and Waterfalls near Zhaoqing
Dinghu Mountain, or Dinghu Shan, is the green escape that Guangdong residents have relied on for decades. It rises just northeast of Zhaoqing in western Guangdong and protects one of…
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Laojun Mountain Guide: Golden Summit Sea of Clouds in Henan
Laojun Mountain, known in Chinese as Laojun Shan, is the peak that broke the internet with photos of golden Taoist temples floating above a rolling sea of clouds. It sits…
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Hefei Travel Guide: Chaohu Lake, Bao Gong Temple and Anhui’s Capital
Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province in eastern China, is the city most foreign travelers skip on their way between Shanghai and Huangshan. That is a real mistake. This fast-modernizing…
